The Latest: Netanyahu: Strikes severe blows to Syria, Iran

JERUSALEM — The Latest on the escalation between Israel and Syria and Israel’s offensive against Iranian targets in Syria (all times local):

12:20 p.m.

Israel’s prime minister says his military has dealt “severe blows” to Iran and Syria with a series of airstrikes the previous day.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday that Israel “clarified unequivocally” that it will “continue to strike any attempt to strike us.”

He says “that has been our policy and that will continue to be our policy.”

Saturday’s Israeli airstrikes followed Israel’s interception of an Iranian drone that had infiltrated its airspace. Also, an Israeli F-16 warplane was downed upon its return from Syria, in the most serious engagement in neighboring Syria since fighting erupted there in 2011.

9:25 a.m.

A Syria war monitor says an unprecedented wave of Israeli airstrikes in Syria killed at least six Syrian troops and allied militiamen.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the six were killed in Saturday’s Israeli strikes, which the Israeli military said struck Iranian targets in several parts of Syria.

Sunday’s report by the Observatory says they included Syrian troops as well as Syrian and non-Syrian allied troops. The Britain-based Observatory monitors the war in Syria through a network of activists on the ground.

The Israeli strikes marked Israel’s most serious engagement in neighboring Syria since fighting there began in 2011. Israel says the strikes were launched after it shot down an infiltrating Iranian drone.

9:20 a.m.

The United States has backed Israel and expressed deep concern over the latest escalation following Israel’s downing of an infiltrating Iranian drone and striking of Iranian targets deep in Syria.

Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman, said late on Saturday that the U.S. “strongly supports Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself.”

Nauert says that “Iran’s calculated escalation of threat and its ambition to project its power and dominance, places all the people of the? region — from Yemen to Lebanon — at risk.”

She says ?the “U.S. continues to push back on the totality of Iran’s malign activities in the region and calls for an end to Iranian behavior that threatens peace and stability.”

9:10 a.m.

Israel’s minister of intelligence says that by striking key Iranian sites in Syria, Israel has sent a clear message to Iran that it won’t tolerate an Iranian military foothold on its doorstep.

Israel Katz said on Sunday it will take the Iranians time to “digest, understand and ask how Israel knew how to hit those sites.”

After shooting down an Iranian drone that infiltrated its airspace, Israel launched a widespread offensive on Saturday in Syria. The military says it hit four Iranian positions and eight Syrian sites, causing significant damage.

Israel has recently issued several stern warnings about the increased Iranian involvement along its borders with Syria and Lebanon.

Israel also says it destroyed the Syrian military’s main command and control bunker in its most devastating assault there in decades.

The AP is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, as a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members, it can maintain its single-minded focus on newsgathering and its commitment to the highest standards of objective, accurate journalism.